Secret Ballot Watch

Like the monster in a bad horror movie, the latest nightmare scenario making its way through Washington is the theory that the Employee Free Choice Act can return to wreak havoc on workers’ rights and the economy – even if it dies in the Senate, where it has been dormant like a sleeping vampire for months.

Workforce Management magazine notes that card check advocates are now speculating that the National Labor Relations Board itself could revive the act, as sympathetic politically-appointed board members use their authority over federal labor laws.  

“There is a possibility that the National Labor Relations Board could rule, if the right case comes along, that a company must recognize a union formed through the card-check process. Card check, also known as majority sign-up, means that a company recognizes a union if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing a bargaining unit. …

“The five-member board is poised to have a Democratic majority now that a Democrat is in the White House, giving it a pro-union orientation. Currently, the board only has two commissioners—one Democrat and one Republican.

“President Barack Obama has nominated two people for board positions. One of them, Craig Becker, is the associate general counsel to the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union.”

Schoeff, “NLRB Decisions Could Make Card Check A Reality,” Workforce Management, July 2009 

The legality of the board doing this is doubtful. And the prospect is downright frightening. After all, a fair National Labor Relations Board is important to federal labor laws – especially for those that organize a workplace.

Take the secret ballot, for example. The board supervises those elections to ensure fairness – and to protect workers who value their privacy from pushy union bosses or company managers.

But imagine if the board has members like Becker with ties to groups such as the AFL-CIO and SEIU that already support card check. With the board’s blessing, the secret ballot could be set aside and workers who might not agree with unionizing are now at risk for intimidation.

In other words, the board – once the trusted protector of workers’ rights and fairness – becomes a threat. It’s not the first time concerns have been raised about what a politically-motivated board might do. And it’s yet another reason why there should be a federal law that guarantees workers the right to a secret ballot in union organizing elections.  

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